With Operation Creative, police crack down on 'ad-funded' piracy

The City of London's recently-formed Police Intellectual
Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) has cracked down on websites hosting copyright infringing content
and has managed to get 40 of them suspended by domain name
registrars.

Operation Creative saw PIPCU collaborate with the advertising
industry and various trade bodies for rights holders in order to
try and cut off ad revenue streams to the copyright infringing
sites. Sites hosting pirated contents tend to place their ad
inventory into ad networks and exchanges in order to generate
revenue from the audiences they attract, which means that
well-respected brands inadvertently find themselves "sponsoring"
piracy.

The Internet Advertising Bureau, the Incorporated Society of
British Advertisers, the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising,
the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), The Publishers
Association, British Recorded Music Industry (BPI) and
International Federation of the Phonographic Industry
(IFPI) worked together in a three-month pilot to cut ad
revenues to infringing websites.

A list of 61 suspected copyright infringing sites was first of
all given to police by the rights holders. Once illegal activity
was confirmed by analysts from the City of London Police, they
contacted the websites to inform them that they were hosting
copyright infringing content and encouraged them to "correct their
behaviour" and "operate legitimately".

The team analysed the ads that appeared on the copyright
infringing websites and fed that information through to a group of
60 marketing agencies, advertising technology companies and brands
responsible for placing those ads. They were asked to stop placing
ads on those sites that failed to engage with the police process.
During the pilot, the number of ads from well-known brands fell by
12 percent.

However, this lost revenue was seemingly replaced by a surge (39
percent) in ads that led to porn or which could expose users to
malware. Operation Creative interpreted this as a victory (not for
users, presumably), saying that it indicated that "site owners may
struggle to maintain their revenue streams when adverts from
established brands are removed".

According to the report, 46 percent of total ads served to the
sites were from "unknown or unidentified brands which invited users
to click through, often to fraudulent scams".

For persistent offenders, PIPCU sent formal letters to the
domain name registrars explaining that they were hosting websites
facilitating criminal copyright infringement under UK law. They
were asked to suspend those websites -- 40 of them -- until further
notice.

Superintendent Bob Wishart, from PIPCU, said: "Together we have
created a process that first and foremost encourages offenders to
change their behaviour so they are operating within the law.
However, if they refuse to comply we now have the means to persuade
businesses to move their advertising to different platforms and, if
offending continues, for registrars to suspend the websites."

It's been a busy week for PIPCU, which also conducted early morning raids to arrest three men suspected of storing
and selling fake branded laptop and mobile phone equipment such as
chargers and batteries.